Mwalimu-G
Elder Lister
ESSAYS
Did Ruto appoint his alter-ego as running mate?
The values espoused by William Ruto and his newly appointed running mate, Rigathi Gachagua, are so aligned it is uncanny. And so are the trajectories of their political careers from student leadership to the very top. Does the Ruto-Gachagua ticket represent the past or the future?
May 20, 2022
By
Kamau Ngotho
https://viewpoints.ke/did-ruto-appoint-his-alter-ego-as-running-mate/#
In bulldozing Mathira MP Rigathi Gachagua as his running-mate against wishes of majority MPs in his party and against the desires of UDA supporters as espoused by various opinion polls, Deputy President William Ruto allowed the crave to duplicate himself crowd out every other consideration.
Gachagua is William Ruto in another name and vice versa. In one, you see the other. They have a common history, same temperament and shared killer instincts. And now their destiny is tied depending on whether they win or lose in August election.
As of Friday evening, last week, the DP had settled on Mathira MP Gachagua against pleading by close confidants uncomfortable with Gachagua as a team player, his abrasiveness, his alleged irascibility, besides concerns cantering around his personal integrity. Currently, Gachagua has fraud and money launderings cases pending in court.
Senator Kithure Kindiki was the choice of the majority UDA MPs, particularly those from Mt Kenya region. Also in the short list were MPs Ndindi Nyoro and Alice Wahome, and Kirinyaga Governor Ann Waiguru. The DP was adamant that it had to be Gachagua and had even expressed confidence that the appointment of a running mate was the least of the problems in the Kenya Kwanza alliance.
Last Saturday morning was set as the day to unveil the running-mate. The idea was to show that Kenya Kwanza was not riven with wrangles over this position.
How Gachagua was unveiled as running mate
But early Saturday morning the equation changed when Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichung’wa who too has the ear of the DP sneaked to his Karen residence and convinced the DP to call a vote to decide on the matter. It is said that there is no love lost between Ichung’wa and Rigathi both of who are keen to grab the mantle of leadership in the Mt Kenya region.
Since the running-mate slot had been reserved for the Mount Kenya region, only MPs from the region and their ‘cousins’ from the diaspora regions of Nairobi, Laikipia and Nakuru would vote.
The vote was taken on Saturday night. Reports have emerged that Senator Kindiki scooped a landslide of 26 votes against 4 for Gachagua. One lone vote was cast for the Speaker of the National Assembly Justin Muturi, most likely by Gatundu MP Moses Kuria. It was now up the DP to sleep on the matter and make an announcement on Sunday morning. The heated meetings ended in the small hours of the night and both running mate and the other leaders were told to assemble after Church service on Sunday so that the announcement could be made.
Prof Kindiki this week told Citizen TVthat the announcement time was unexpectedly moved forward and made while he was still in Church. Surprisingly for him, his rival Gachagua, who had received the least votes, was declared the running mate.
The joke doing rounds is that the DP, by appointing the loser, applied “bottom-up” formula to decide on the “winner.” The whole saga was reminiscent of the 1988 mlolongo vote during the KANU regime where candidates with shorter queue were declared ‘’winners”! Both Ruto and Gachagua were KANU insiders in the party’s heyday.
Mt Kenya UDA MPs show reservations about Gachagua’s suitability as running mate
It is instructive that not just UDA MPs from Mount Kenya region have reservations on Gachagua as running-mate for the DP. Unlike the choice of Martha Karua as running-mate for AZIMIO presidential aspirant Raila Odinga which was met with jubilation countrywide, Gachagua choice was received well only in a part of his Nyeri home. This is not to say UDA does not have support. What it means is that many UDA supporters have qualms on Gachagua and are quietly apprehensive that the choice will likely cost UDA in August election.
However, the DP vice-like grip on the party and Gachagua manipulative tactics is guaranteed to ensure that all jitters remain under the table. For three days after the announcement, UDA Mt Kenya MPs were unusually quiet, a tell-tale sign that all was not well.
A relationship cemented by time and values and ideology
It hardly surprising that the DP would ignore all wise counsel and stick with Gachagua. The two have been together in every step of their public life from university days in late 1980s to the present.
As is the case with the DP, Gachagua was discovered and nurtured by the “system” when he was a student studying English Literature and Political Science (renamed Government by the Moi regime to elide any allusions to politics) at the University of Nairobi in late 1980s. To contain student radicalism spearheaded by the umbrella students’ organisation SONU, agents of the State devised a divide-and-rule tactic where students would be compartmentalised into region-based organisations whose patrons were loyalists of the ruling party KANU.
That is how youthful Ruto and Gachagua came to head students’ organisations. Rigathi came to head the grouping of students from Nyeri while Ruto was a member of the students from Uasin Gishu.
Gachagua: A very good actor with concrete acting experience
At the UoN main campus Rigathi became chairman of the University of Nairobi The Travelling Theatre, a troupe of actors and musicians from mainly the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. His rise to the top of this organization is proof that Gachagua is to this day a very good actor.
Across the fence at the Chiromo campus Ruto was elected Chairman of the Christian Union, another influential student leadership position. It is here that he honed his formidable public speaking skills. Bible verses he memorised during Christian crusades in those days still serve him well.
Owing to their self-promoting tactics, they soon drew the attention of President Daniel arap Moi. They would be picked to accompany the Head of State on foreign trips. Catching the President’s eye also came with other privileges. It is student leaders who would receive and decide on how to share generous cash hand-outs that the former President was known for. Not surprising Ruto and Gachagua religiously believe in politics of “hand-outs”.
Gachagua also became darling of the university administration amid allegations he was used by both State and university heads to spy and snitch on fellow students. A student leader at the time and political activist Wafula Buke, whose was jailed and his education career seriously curtailed, has published graphic details on how “effective and dangerous” Gachagua was in their days at the university.
How Gachagua joined the provincial administration as a special DO
On graduation, Gachagua was recruited into Kenya’s premier prefecture-based administration system as a District Officer (DO) cadet. Normally, this positions were reserved for some of the brightest youths. Gachagua qualified both because he had a university degree and was also well-connected. He proceeded for training at the Kenya Institute of Administration, Kabete, and also attended a paramilitary course at the Embakasi Administration Police Training school. He is therefore comfortable with guns.
Thereafter, he was posted first as field administrator, then returned to central administration. He briefly worked at the ministry of Home Affairs before UoN Vice Chancellor Philip Mbithi, with whom he had worked closely as a student spy, was appointed Head of the Civil Service and Secretary to the cabinet.
Prof Mbithi immediately went for his blue-eyed boy Gachagua who he appointed his personal assistant (PA). Due to the proximity to the boss, a PA is a very powerful position in any organization. As PA to the Head of the Civil Service, Gachagua was at the very nerve centre of government. He was the system and the system was him.
One day, Mbithi’s power and position evaporated in one fell swoop. It was announced on radio during the 1.00pm bulletin that Prof Mbithi had been replaced by Joseph arap Leting. It is not clear what led to Mbithi’s ouster. What is clear that some of his officers had more and better access to the president than Mbithi himself.
Ruto and Gachagua as vanguards against political reforms
The return of multi-party system in 1992 saw Gachagua and Ruto re-unite to play different covert roles in ensuring KANU returned to power through all means necessary. At the OP, Gachagua had a special task of thwarting the nascent opposition – the likes of Raila Odinga and Martha Karua and the opposition doyens at the time, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Kenneth Matiba, Charles Rubia, Mwai Kibaki, Koigi wa Wamwere, George Anyona, Katama Mkangi, Njeru Kathangu, and many others .
For instance, the OP organized a great mobilization for Kenyans to head to JKIA airport to receive opposition leader Kenneth Matiba who had been recuperating in London. The idea was to beef up Matiba’s numbers and thus plant a feeling of invincibility that would blind him from acknowledging his incapacity, having suffered a debilitating stroke in detention. The youths carried banners castigating two other leading opposition leaders Jaramogi Odinga and Mwai Kibaki. It was a crafty divide-and-rule tactic to scatter the opposition.
On his part Ruto, who had registered for a masters degree, fled to join the infamous Youth for KANU 1992 (YK ’92) whose assignments bore close resemblance to those of Gachagua’s squad at the Harambee House.
An example of a joint OP/YK ’92 “dirty tactics” was to drop leaflets in the Mount Kenya region on the eve of the voting day alleging either Matiba or Kibaki had “stepped down” in favour of the other. The aim was to create confusion in their respective strongholds and have their joint votes wasted in favour of KANU.
While attached to the OP, Gachagua would be on special duties in the field like in 1992 when he was briefly stationed in Molo in Nakuru. That particular detail is missing in his CV posted in the National Assembly website. Molo was one of the epicentres of the 1992 election related violence and whose details are captured in the report of the commission on inquiry chaired by retired Justice Akilano Akiwumi.
On leaving the OP, Gachagua was posted to the field as DO where he served in Kiambaa, Limuru, and Tigoni in Kiambu, Kirinyaga, Laikipia and Kakamega.
A trial of complaints about excesses
In all stations where he served, there were complaints of aggressiveness and excesses that went beyond what is allowed in law. For instance, while serving in Kiambaa, the media reported complaints by traders that Gachagua had sent letters demanding that the traders contribute in cash or in kind for a Christmas party for the Administration Police. Contacted, Gachagua accepted the letters had been sent from his office but claimed the “donations” would be voluntary”. The traders differed and condemned it as “extortion.” The area MP, Kamau Icharia, described it as “outright robbery.”
Media reports would again appear in February 2000 with claims that while serving as DO in Nabogoro, Kakamega, Gachagua had entered into partnership with 52 sugar-cane farmers only to abandon them and “disappear.” The farmers were up in arms because Mumias Sugar Company couldn’t pay them in absence of their “partner” Gachagua.
Gachagua and Ruto would re-unite again in 2002 during Uhuru Kenyatta presidential campaign. Uhuru had been appointed Local Government minister. As Moi headed for retirement, he picked Uhuru as the KANU presidential candidate that year.
Serving as Uhuru’s PA
Gachagua, now a seasoned government operative with a decade’s worth of experience under his arm, was brought in by Moi as Uhuru’s PA in the ministry but principally to help him in the presidential campaign. Meanwhile Ruto had also been appointed to the cabinet but also KANU organising secretary and one of Uhuru chief campaigners. It true to say that Gachagua and Ruto were in charge of Moi’s project that failed to capture power. They are now giving it a second shot. Will they succeed?
Uhuru parted ways with Gachagua soon after the electoral loss and NARC’s assumption to power. Both of them then migrated to Raila Odinga’s ODM during the 2005 constitutional referendum but they soon parted ways as Uhuru joined Kibaki in PNU and Ruto remained in ODM. The three would again be together when the UhuruRuto duo won the presidency in 2013, and Gachagua was elected MP.
Come 2017 and Ruto and Gachagua were back to what they knew best from their university days and at OP and YK ’92, respectively; single-party style politics updated with falsely inspiring, Trump-like, extra-simplified but empty rhetoric that appeals to the desperate and uncritical masses.
The unusual five-year, non-stop campaign and its effects
The DP embarked on early campaigns for 2022 presidential election way back in 2018 against the wishes of his boss President Uhuru Kenyatta who first wanted to work on his legacy projects before turning attention to 2022. Ruto and Gachagua have therefore been campaign non-stop for five good years.
Their campaign has been effective in certain demographics in the vote-rich Mt Kenya region who now believe that Uhuru has not built any infrastructure and if he has, he should fold whatever he has built, wrap it in a paper bag and go home with it. Polls show that such people are in the rural areas, have low levels of education, and believe that corruption is not an issue.
Waters between Uhuru and Ruto were further muddied after the “handshake” between President and opposition leader Raila Odinga, which the DP correctly saw as mortal threat to his ambitions in 2022.
Gachagua came in handy Ruto’s scheme to defy the boss. He immediately became a key pillar of the what came to be known as the Tanga Tanga faction, firing potent political salvos against the Uhuru administration, financing the faction’s political activities, and appearing on TV to push the hustler narrative and abrasively combat alternative narratives.
Gachagua has emerged as an articulate, arrogant, foul-mouthed, pushy, and conspiratorial – all what a doctor would have prescribed for a DP running mate hence no chance for Senator Kindiki much as he had the vote, the education, the temperament, and the promise of a future brightness in his political career
Did Ruto appoint his alter-ego as running mate?
The values espoused by William Ruto and his newly appointed running mate, Rigathi Gachagua, are so aligned it is uncanny. And so are the trajectories of their political careers from student leadership to the very top. Does the Ruto-Gachagua ticket represent the past or the future?
May 20, 2022
By
Kamau Ngotho
https://viewpoints.ke/did-ruto-appoint-his-alter-ego-as-running-mate/#
In bulldozing Mathira MP Rigathi Gachagua as his running-mate against wishes of majority MPs in his party and against the desires of UDA supporters as espoused by various opinion polls, Deputy President William Ruto allowed the crave to duplicate himself crowd out every other consideration.
Gachagua is William Ruto in another name and vice versa. In one, you see the other. They have a common history, same temperament and shared killer instincts. And now their destiny is tied depending on whether they win or lose in August election.
As of Friday evening, last week, the DP had settled on Mathira MP Gachagua against pleading by close confidants uncomfortable with Gachagua as a team player, his abrasiveness, his alleged irascibility, besides concerns cantering around his personal integrity. Currently, Gachagua has fraud and money launderings cases pending in court.
Senator Kithure Kindiki was the choice of the majority UDA MPs, particularly those from Mt Kenya region. Also in the short list were MPs Ndindi Nyoro and Alice Wahome, and Kirinyaga Governor Ann Waiguru. The DP was adamant that it had to be Gachagua and had even expressed confidence that the appointment of a running mate was the least of the problems in the Kenya Kwanza alliance.
Last Saturday morning was set as the day to unveil the running-mate. The idea was to show that Kenya Kwanza was not riven with wrangles over this position.
How Gachagua was unveiled as running mate
But early Saturday morning the equation changed when Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichung’wa who too has the ear of the DP sneaked to his Karen residence and convinced the DP to call a vote to decide on the matter. It is said that there is no love lost between Ichung’wa and Rigathi both of who are keen to grab the mantle of leadership in the Mt Kenya region.
Since the running-mate slot had been reserved for the Mount Kenya region, only MPs from the region and their ‘cousins’ from the diaspora regions of Nairobi, Laikipia and Nakuru would vote.
The vote was taken on Saturday night. Reports have emerged that Senator Kindiki scooped a landslide of 26 votes against 4 for Gachagua. One lone vote was cast for the Speaker of the National Assembly Justin Muturi, most likely by Gatundu MP Moses Kuria. It was now up the DP to sleep on the matter and make an announcement on Sunday morning. The heated meetings ended in the small hours of the night and both running mate and the other leaders were told to assemble after Church service on Sunday so that the announcement could be made.
Prof Kindiki this week told Citizen TVthat the announcement time was unexpectedly moved forward and made while he was still in Church. Surprisingly for him, his rival Gachagua, who had received the least votes, was declared the running mate.
The joke doing rounds is that the DP, by appointing the loser, applied “bottom-up” formula to decide on the “winner.” The whole saga was reminiscent of the 1988 mlolongo vote during the KANU regime where candidates with shorter queue were declared ‘’winners”! Both Ruto and Gachagua were KANU insiders in the party’s heyday.
Mt Kenya UDA MPs show reservations about Gachagua’s suitability as running mate
It is instructive that not just UDA MPs from Mount Kenya region have reservations on Gachagua as running-mate for the DP. Unlike the choice of Martha Karua as running-mate for AZIMIO presidential aspirant Raila Odinga which was met with jubilation countrywide, Gachagua choice was received well only in a part of his Nyeri home. This is not to say UDA does not have support. What it means is that many UDA supporters have qualms on Gachagua and are quietly apprehensive that the choice will likely cost UDA in August election.
However, the DP vice-like grip on the party and Gachagua manipulative tactics is guaranteed to ensure that all jitters remain under the table. For three days after the announcement, UDA Mt Kenya MPs were unusually quiet, a tell-tale sign that all was not well.
A relationship cemented by time and values and ideology
It hardly surprising that the DP would ignore all wise counsel and stick with Gachagua. The two have been together in every step of their public life from university days in late 1980s to the present.
As is the case with the DP, Gachagua was discovered and nurtured by the “system” when he was a student studying English Literature and Political Science (renamed Government by the Moi regime to elide any allusions to politics) at the University of Nairobi in late 1980s. To contain student radicalism spearheaded by the umbrella students’ organisation SONU, agents of the State devised a divide-and-rule tactic where students would be compartmentalised into region-based organisations whose patrons were loyalists of the ruling party KANU.
That is how youthful Ruto and Gachagua came to head students’ organisations. Rigathi came to head the grouping of students from Nyeri while Ruto was a member of the students from Uasin Gishu.
Gachagua: A very good actor with concrete acting experience
At the UoN main campus Rigathi became chairman of the University of Nairobi The Travelling Theatre, a troupe of actors and musicians from mainly the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. His rise to the top of this organization is proof that Gachagua is to this day a very good actor.
Across the fence at the Chiromo campus Ruto was elected Chairman of the Christian Union, another influential student leadership position. It is here that he honed his formidable public speaking skills. Bible verses he memorised during Christian crusades in those days still serve him well.
Owing to their self-promoting tactics, they soon drew the attention of President Daniel arap Moi. They would be picked to accompany the Head of State on foreign trips. Catching the President’s eye also came with other privileges. It is student leaders who would receive and decide on how to share generous cash hand-outs that the former President was known for. Not surprising Ruto and Gachagua religiously believe in politics of “hand-outs”.
Gachagua also became darling of the university administration amid allegations he was used by both State and university heads to spy and snitch on fellow students. A student leader at the time and political activist Wafula Buke, whose was jailed and his education career seriously curtailed, has published graphic details on how “effective and dangerous” Gachagua was in their days at the university.
How Gachagua joined the provincial administration as a special DO
On graduation, Gachagua was recruited into Kenya’s premier prefecture-based administration system as a District Officer (DO) cadet. Normally, this positions were reserved for some of the brightest youths. Gachagua qualified both because he had a university degree and was also well-connected. He proceeded for training at the Kenya Institute of Administration, Kabete, and also attended a paramilitary course at the Embakasi Administration Police Training school. He is therefore comfortable with guns.
Thereafter, he was posted first as field administrator, then returned to central administration. He briefly worked at the ministry of Home Affairs before UoN Vice Chancellor Philip Mbithi, with whom he had worked closely as a student spy, was appointed Head of the Civil Service and Secretary to the cabinet.
Prof Mbithi immediately went for his blue-eyed boy Gachagua who he appointed his personal assistant (PA). Due to the proximity to the boss, a PA is a very powerful position in any organization. As PA to the Head of the Civil Service, Gachagua was at the very nerve centre of government. He was the system and the system was him.
One day, Mbithi’s power and position evaporated in one fell swoop. It was announced on radio during the 1.00pm bulletin that Prof Mbithi had been replaced by Joseph arap Leting. It is not clear what led to Mbithi’s ouster. What is clear that some of his officers had more and better access to the president than Mbithi himself.
Ruto and Gachagua as vanguards against political reforms
The return of multi-party system in 1992 saw Gachagua and Ruto re-unite to play different covert roles in ensuring KANU returned to power through all means necessary. At the OP, Gachagua had a special task of thwarting the nascent opposition – the likes of Raila Odinga and Martha Karua and the opposition doyens at the time, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Kenneth Matiba, Charles Rubia, Mwai Kibaki, Koigi wa Wamwere, George Anyona, Katama Mkangi, Njeru Kathangu, and many others .
For instance, the OP organized a great mobilization for Kenyans to head to JKIA airport to receive opposition leader Kenneth Matiba who had been recuperating in London. The idea was to beef up Matiba’s numbers and thus plant a feeling of invincibility that would blind him from acknowledging his incapacity, having suffered a debilitating stroke in detention. The youths carried banners castigating two other leading opposition leaders Jaramogi Odinga and Mwai Kibaki. It was a crafty divide-and-rule tactic to scatter the opposition.
On his part Ruto, who had registered for a masters degree, fled to join the infamous Youth for KANU 1992 (YK ’92) whose assignments bore close resemblance to those of Gachagua’s squad at the Harambee House.
An example of a joint OP/YK ’92 “dirty tactics” was to drop leaflets in the Mount Kenya region on the eve of the voting day alleging either Matiba or Kibaki had “stepped down” in favour of the other. The aim was to create confusion in their respective strongholds and have their joint votes wasted in favour of KANU.
While attached to the OP, Gachagua would be on special duties in the field like in 1992 when he was briefly stationed in Molo in Nakuru. That particular detail is missing in his CV posted in the National Assembly website. Molo was one of the epicentres of the 1992 election related violence and whose details are captured in the report of the commission on inquiry chaired by retired Justice Akilano Akiwumi.
On leaving the OP, Gachagua was posted to the field as DO where he served in Kiambaa, Limuru, and Tigoni in Kiambu, Kirinyaga, Laikipia and Kakamega.
A trial of complaints about excesses
In all stations where he served, there were complaints of aggressiveness and excesses that went beyond what is allowed in law. For instance, while serving in Kiambaa, the media reported complaints by traders that Gachagua had sent letters demanding that the traders contribute in cash or in kind for a Christmas party for the Administration Police. Contacted, Gachagua accepted the letters had been sent from his office but claimed the “donations” would be voluntary”. The traders differed and condemned it as “extortion.” The area MP, Kamau Icharia, described it as “outright robbery.”
Media reports would again appear in February 2000 with claims that while serving as DO in Nabogoro, Kakamega, Gachagua had entered into partnership with 52 sugar-cane farmers only to abandon them and “disappear.” The farmers were up in arms because Mumias Sugar Company couldn’t pay them in absence of their “partner” Gachagua.
Gachagua and Ruto would re-unite again in 2002 during Uhuru Kenyatta presidential campaign. Uhuru had been appointed Local Government minister. As Moi headed for retirement, he picked Uhuru as the KANU presidential candidate that year.
Serving as Uhuru’s PA
Gachagua, now a seasoned government operative with a decade’s worth of experience under his arm, was brought in by Moi as Uhuru’s PA in the ministry but principally to help him in the presidential campaign. Meanwhile Ruto had also been appointed to the cabinet but also KANU organising secretary and one of Uhuru chief campaigners. It true to say that Gachagua and Ruto were in charge of Moi’s project that failed to capture power. They are now giving it a second shot. Will they succeed?
Uhuru parted ways with Gachagua soon after the electoral loss and NARC’s assumption to power. Both of them then migrated to Raila Odinga’s ODM during the 2005 constitutional referendum but they soon parted ways as Uhuru joined Kibaki in PNU and Ruto remained in ODM. The three would again be together when the UhuruRuto duo won the presidency in 2013, and Gachagua was elected MP.
Come 2017 and Ruto and Gachagua were back to what they knew best from their university days and at OP and YK ’92, respectively; single-party style politics updated with falsely inspiring, Trump-like, extra-simplified but empty rhetoric that appeals to the desperate and uncritical masses.
The unusual five-year, non-stop campaign and its effects
The DP embarked on early campaigns for 2022 presidential election way back in 2018 against the wishes of his boss President Uhuru Kenyatta who first wanted to work on his legacy projects before turning attention to 2022. Ruto and Gachagua have therefore been campaign non-stop for five good years.
Their campaign has been effective in certain demographics in the vote-rich Mt Kenya region who now believe that Uhuru has not built any infrastructure and if he has, he should fold whatever he has built, wrap it in a paper bag and go home with it. Polls show that such people are in the rural areas, have low levels of education, and believe that corruption is not an issue.
Waters between Uhuru and Ruto were further muddied after the “handshake” between President and opposition leader Raila Odinga, which the DP correctly saw as mortal threat to his ambitions in 2022.
Gachagua came in handy Ruto’s scheme to defy the boss. He immediately became a key pillar of the what came to be known as the Tanga Tanga faction, firing potent political salvos against the Uhuru administration, financing the faction’s political activities, and appearing on TV to push the hustler narrative and abrasively combat alternative narratives.
Gachagua has emerged as an articulate, arrogant, foul-mouthed, pushy, and conspiratorial – all what a doctor would have prescribed for a DP running mate hence no chance for Senator Kindiki much as he had the vote, the education, the temperament, and the promise of a future brightness in his political career
Last edited:
